SOUL MATE
by lifez-beautiful
Summary: Inspired by 3x02 , Rick finds his soul mate and realizes just how much she means to him. Epilogue up now !
1. soul mates

DISCLAIMER: All the characters belong to ABC productions, I own nothing...

SPOILER: Season 3 episode two

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello everybody! Hope you all are having a good day! :D well here is a longgg one shot which I was so badly inspired to write after watching season 3 episode two ,when Rick mentions the word 'soul mate' ,it just tugged my heart !So here goes give it a try and whatever you feel you can write in criticism is always reading ! :)

NOTE: I just re-read the whole story once more and I found certain words and punctuations were missing and jumbled and the more I corrected them, the worse they became! Something seriously wrong with my word processor, I guess! Hehe. Now I have corrected them once more, hope this time its better.

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Everything was over in few seconds. The desparation, fear,anger,everything ,just all of it came at once and overtook his emotions ,as he pulled the trigger to the gun which would eventually save the life of the person whom he thoroughly treasured. He dint even have time to aim, he just had to shoot the b****d before he could pull his trigger and claim her life. All that was heard were two shots being fired and suddenly there was this eerie silence for almost a second where everything went blank, until the sounds of "NYPD, put your guns down!" came to be heard. It was Esposito and Ryan, they were searching for her in the other direction when Castle as usual, instead of staying put in the car, came searching for her in the current direction. He was never going to stay put in the car. He had never done it even in a casual case and why on the hell would he do that now! Now, when his very reason for being there, lay somewhere inside, within the clutches of a bloody psychopath! He had taken his personal gun, knowing very well that if need arises he wouldn't hesitate a bit to take the life of the person who would harm her and didn't really care about the consequences, at least not when she was concerned...

The two detectives ran in scared, fearing the worst had happened. And it took them a moment to realize the scene before them. Castle was standing with a gun in his hand, almost too shocked to move, cant blame him though, they had barged inside almost in a matter of a second after they heard the gun shots as they were actually headed in the same direction. Further away they could see a man lying in a pool of his own blood with a gun clutched in his hand. And the most important thing, which both their eyes were frantically searching, was found in a farther corner of the room, not so far from the man on the ground.

They ran towards the form sitting on the chair, all ducts taped, weary, unconscious and most importantly wet with a red stuff running down her neck and soaking her shirt. Castle had registered their movements but he was too stunned at all the happenings, especially the realization that she was shot had made him too numb to move. But the sudden footsteps running towards the figure on whom his eyes were stuck jerked him out of his reverie, and he frantically ran towards her. With great fear gripping his heart, he almost fell onto her feet, as the other two were cutting off her tapes and simultaneously calling the paramedics to come in. They had already called them and had asked them to station nearby, in case they found Beckett hurt or if not, at least she would be exhausted from being kidnapped and held hostage for 3 days. Their wise decision could save a little more precious time.

They were trying to arrest the bleeding. It looked as if the bullet has just grazed the neck but regarding the profuse bleeding it seemed as if the jugular was nicked! Almost everyone present at the room knew what that meant, TIME WAS PRECIOUS. If they don't arrest the bleeding soon, she could die of hypovolemic shock resulting from severe blood loss. Castle by now, with visible tears in his eyes was shouting at her, tapping onto her cheeks to revive her consciousness, begging to God and trying to arrest the bleeding, all at the same time. The other two were still struggling with the piles of duct tapes that still stuck her to the God damn chair. And after a few tensed minutes, Paramedics arrive at the scene and took over. The two detectives moved aside to let them do what they are good at, their area of expertise over.

But Castle wouldn't budge. He just held onto her hand. After few futile efforts to shoo him away, they decided against it ,as it would just be wasting their valuable time and moreover he wasn't actually causing any hindrance to what they were doing, instead actually aiding them to a certain level. They could always use an extra pair of hands and more importantly ,he himself looked like he would very soon go in a neurogenic shock .They already had two patients at hand now, they sure dint need another one. The bloody psycho was still alive and even though no one present there wanted to actually save him, it was their duty and they would do it unflinchingly. Then eventually the sirens faded off with Castle still in the ambulance, holding onto her hand in a death grip, not uttering a single word and staring unblinkingly at her face.

But later, he had to let go of her when they mentioned that him not leaving her hand is costing her precious time. At very instant he let go of her hand. He would even leave her, if that's what it cost to see her alive, even though it would tear his heart apart, he would do that and anything for that matter if he could just see her alive again, see that dazzling smile once more. O god, he just couldn't bear it and almost collapsed when Espo had caught him just in time and made him sit on the nearby waiting area chairs as they wheeled her into the OT.

The time was passing dangerously slow and he could hear his heart beat so loudly that it almost seemed surreal. Sweaty, teary and dead tired with exhaustion with almost no sleep for 3 days and running behind every possible suspect they could catch on and not to mention the emotional turmoil ,his over active imagination had caused, cursing himself for his gift which conjured up scary thoughts and scenarios ,he really looked scarily ill to anyone who would set eyes on him and that included the Captain ,the ME and his family, who by now were all crowding near him, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder every now and then . Nothing any one did could ease his pain and thankfully everyone there, realized it well enough and he was grateful to them for that. And Silence prevailed...

Everyone wouldn't dare to admit but inside, they were all scared. She was invaluable to everyone present there, she was a best friend to some, a Boss and partner to some, their special prodigy, almost like a daughter to some , a special secret keeper ,an inspiration ,someone to look-up to some... she was indeed irreplaceable in their lives but to some one she was the very essence of his life itself, he had never dared to admit it, fearing that it would weaken his fabric of life but today when that fabric is almost as weak as its going to be torn into pieces, he can do nothing except to accept the truth and that too when he wants to face it the least.

He was trembling with tears, his lips almost quivered with unspoken fear, praying the door to open and some God sent angel to pop out of that door and give him the gift of his life, give him her . And soon as if God did hear his prayers, the door opened and an angel covered in mask and surgical gown did pop out. Her facial expression almost hidden by the mask and the head cap that she was wearing, tensing the on-lookers further more. But soon she lowered her mask and said with a faint smile that Kate was indeed saved but also that she was still in a critical stage for next 24 hrs and would be kept under observation, as the shock had almost set in with the heavy blood loss, aided by the narcotic drugs on which she was heavily placed for past few days and also the bruises that had almost cracked her two ribs, lungs being narrowly spared. But other than those major things she also had a fractured left hand.

He almost jumped onto the doctor to thank her for saving her life and indirectly his, but fell down again due to the undeniable weakness he was feeling now and also the overwhelming happiness that knew no bounds now. This time his mother had caught him on time and all he could do was to give a weak smile to the doctor. He would have been greatly embarrassed if it was some other time for falling off like that, but now, he really didn't care much. All he could think now was about the well being of the person who lay few feet away from him across those glass doors, who he would now whole heartedly accept as his Life, at least that major part of his life that would keep him sane. Because he was now sure that if God forbade something had happened to her and if he had survived that shock physically he would never have mentally and would have surely ended up in some asylum caught up living in a fantasy world where she still existed.

It was 10 hrs after the initial good news and everyone had convinced him to move from the seat he had occupied and captain and Lanie had almost threatened to put him onto tranquilizers and admit him in the same hospital if he dint get some sleep .He dint budge. He had countless cups of coffee to keep him awake, almost to the extent that his blood would have been replaced by the brown fluid instead of the usual feared of what would happen if he closed his eyes and she needs would be there for her when she opens her eyes, no matter when It would be, he would be there for her. But he had in turn convinced everyone else to go and have some rest saying the exact words they used on him, telling he would rest if every one present there took rest and come everyone slowly dispersed after long hours of reasoning vainly with him deciding to return after few hrs considering somebody should be there after few hrs anyways as he would soon collapse after watching her open her eyes. Currently only Martha was there next to him as she had taken her turn a little earlier due to continued persuasion of the others and castle. Alexis was still at home as she was one of the last persons to go home that day.

It was then almost towards the early morning Rick recognized his cell phone vibrating .He was too pre-occupied to notice that up till a few hrs ago but now it suddenly jerked him out of his saw the caller ID, his heart wrenched, guilt creeped in, it was GINA.

He never understood what exactly was the reason he hooked up with her again .Of course he knew the circumstance which led to that, that wretched Demming. But what in his stupid state of mind made him to actually take her to Hamptons and revive his relationship with her..? Was still a mystery. Because he surely was not in love with her, wondering if he ever had been. Doubting if he ever was even when he was married to her earlier. Everything now seemed like a childish infatuation, making himself believe that he wasn't taking her just to make Kate jealous to Hamptons and that he genuinely cared for … whom was he kidding, from the time he had met Kate, there was no one in his life who could take that position in his life, not even Kyra, and Gina was nowhere even near Kyra, needless to say farthest away from Kate.

But he still felt the guilt pang, one toward Kate, for betraying her trust. Well even though she dint love him or so he thought ,he did and he knew it and what he did was unforgiveable ,even though he thought he would plead her for forgiveness and even if it took years, but she would forgive him eventually. He would always wait for that and second was towards Gina he did wasn't fair to her ,even though she had actually taken advantage of him and his wealth like she always did for her shopaholic addiction , what he did could not be justified and was totally unfair . He had no right to play with her emotions when he fairly well knew that he dint have his heart with him in the first place to give it to her . So shakily, he took her call.

After more hour and few more cups of coffee was sitting in the same chair ,but this time accompanied by a lady and Martha stood a little farther away to give them both a little privacy and surprisingly Gina seemed concerned not only about his ghastly appearance but also of Kate's well being. She seemed as if she genuinely cared and that deepened his guilt further more. And all of a sudden the dam broke again, the sobs which had ebbed a few hours ago started to appear again and this time guilt was the main culprit and all he could do was to apologize to her, without even saying for what, he couldn't dare to voice the reason, too ashamed of what he had done and just repeated heart felt 'sorry'.

After few confused moments she finally understood what they finally meant. She wanted to be angry, frustrated, wild and much more at being treated like some wild escapade from his true feelings but she really couldn't get herself to feel all those negative thoughts about him, at least not in this current situation, where he looks almost crushed, so fragile that a little more than a whiff of wind would break him. She felt pity for him. And on the other side, she felt guilty herself. She wasn't so truthful too had other motives behind her reunion with Rick. She still missed the fame and the money he gave her and the thought of getting that back along with a very handsome Rick Castle himself was just too tempting to ignore and she always in some corner of her heart ,knew very well that there was only one person he could love and it was not her but some one for whom he wouldn't mind procrastinating to write a book he oh so much loved and would earn him millions just to spend a day playing cops and robbers with a certain detective for nothing but a simple pleasure of being by her side, doing nothing or even simply stare at her doing paper work.

She had to release him from the bond. he was not hers to be had to return him to his rightful owner and so she did, oh so uncharacteristic of her, but nevertheless that she did .She told him, " Rick I forgive you ... guess I always knew I was not the ONE for you... your soul mate is lying behind that door and no one in this whole wide world needs any proof other than your face at the moment to believe that.. She is the one for you Rick, go get her and for God sakes don't loose her this time." she patted his back gently as if encouraging him to do the right thing and in turn herself to do the right thing and as if the universe had decided it was the RIGHT TIME for every right thing to happen nurse came out of the room and informed them Kate had opened her eyes.. She was still drugged and was mumbling something that vaguely sounded like "Castle" to her.

A joyous grin passed through his now almost faded face... Gina giving him a reassuring smile helped him on his feet and Martha had joined him by now... and she helped him towards the door, but wisely stood behind to let him go inside .After this hard ordeal they both really needed their private time.

He went in and as soon as he saw her, his emotions came crashing back and tears started to flow again… he slowly tumbled onto her bedside sitting in the nurse's chair close to her bed... he bent down to kiss her forehead .. And took her hands... when he heard the incoherent mumble which was like " caaaa..sstle…umm.. hfff " despite his tears he smiled knowing how hard she would deny it when he would tell her about this later, his Kate, his adamant , brilliant, fabulous and off course EXTRAORDINARY Kate, but nevertheless.. HIS KATE.

And a few moments passed before he went numb.. he had finally collapsed onto her bed clutching her hand, when the nurse came back to call him back she saw him and immediately they shifted him to a nearby ward and had given him glucose through IV and also had given him sedatives so that he would sleep peacefully at least for few hours now.

They had kept him on sedatives for quite some time now, that it was almost time for Kate to be shifted to the ward from the ICU. When Martha suggested something, nobody dared to deny her suggestion and that's what Rick found when he was finally awake enough to acknowledge, where he was at present and more importantly who was with him. He lay in the pale blue hospital gown in a room which almost seemed the same shade of sickening blue and a dull white with a curtain partly opened to reveal a pale slim feet, half covered by the same blue sheet, even by what little was seen of her he could identify it was her, actually he didn't need to see her to know she was there, he could almost feel her presence. He gently got up from the bed, now brisk but a little hangover sleep still lingered and trying to make as little noise as possible, he tumbled towards her. He saw her sleeping peacefully, ignoring all the bandages covering her neck, face, chest and arms. He was just glad that she was alive. No matter how she looked, the fact that he loves her would never ever change and so he bent and placed a brief kiss on her forehead again. Not wanting to impose himself onto her lips without her permission. For now, just being with her was more than enough to keep him alive and he was grateful for that…

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Well ending isn't perfect... was just too lazy to write a more creative one. So if anybody likes, I can add a Kate's POV later... And hey guess there is lots of spelling mistakes... plz pardon! :)

So please Read and REVIEW! :)


	2. Epilogue

SPOILER ALERT : season 3 [Biker dude reference ]

**AUTHORS NOTE:**

Well this is mainly to apologize to everyone who read the FF and was disappointed, owing to my horrible writing skills, especially my grammar... So I thought I will make it up to all of you by adding a small epilogue to the story, just a small bit to offer it a proper conclusion. May be later I would write a piece about Kate's POV, that is if anyone still wishes to read it… And yeah please read and review this small piece too...will be waiting. :)

And special thanks to all of you sweet hearts who liked the story... **_THANK YOU._**

So here goes...

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There he stood a sight of pity in his pale blue hospital gown, staring down intently at someone whom he found indefinably adorable. By now he was sitting on her bedside gently caressing the fingers of the unharmed hand. He loved her fingers, the unendingly long ones, adorned with equally beautiful nails. OMG! He just realized how obsessed he was about her that he loved and noticed each and every small detail about her. He noticed the nails had grown a little too big and had to be trimmed just a little to regain its perfection…

He was supposed to be scared about this fact that he was obsessed with her, but on the contrary he felt proud! He just felt may be… just may be he truly deserved her, unlike all the self doubts he had in the past years about him being not worthy of her, after all she was EXTRAORDINARY. It was these self doubts, which on the first place had caused them to drift apart. But now, he was convinced that he was her soul mate just like he knew she was his. And he hoped that she would acknowledge that fact sooner or later. He wanted her to believe that, he was the one for her, just like he knew that she was the one for him.

Not that there weren't others who loved her truly in the past, there certainly were many, and many would still possibly fall in love with her in future, some may even fall at their first sight… after all she was Det. Kate Beckett, the most incredible person he had ever seen. Now , who wouldn't fall for her ? But, he was sure no one could possibly love her more than he did. He would do anything for her, literally just anything and everything for her, and for this he was arrogantly proud of himself.

Now, he would never back out even if he found her leaning in for some pathologically perfect Demming or some randomly cool, biker dude. He now knew that he deserved her more than anyone and he would fight for what was rightfully his with all that he has got to get her back, his soul mate Ms. Kate Beckett… the love of his life.

So there he sat, stroking her hand gently, admiring her fingers and secretly hoping that one day, not very far into the future, those beautiful fingers would bear a ring that would speak volumes of his unending love for her. That mere thought made his heart turn into a mush and he gently tried to slide next to her, overtly cautious not to disturb her, while at the same time weaving myriad dreams about a blissful future with her.

He felt at peace to be lying there next to her, dreaming and listening to constant peaceful beep of the machine that assured him that his Kate was still alive and safe beside him. The gentle rise and fall of her heart beat being the proof of what he believed. Infact those were the most beautiful things he had ever watched on a machine, _the peaceful rhythms of her heart…connecting infinitely to his own._

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_**A new beginning...**_


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